Frank Howard and Mike Thurman will the Yankees at the podium of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft next month, helping announce the club’s selections at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.

Howard, 70, has worked for the Yankees since 2000 as a special instructor and is a frequent presence at Legends Field in Tampa, Fla., where he helps the Yankees of tomorrow pursue their big league dreams.

The 1960 National League Rookie of the Year, the 6-foot-7 Howard — nicknamed “Hondo” — was a physically intimidating slugger who hit 382 Major League home runs and spent most of his 16-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Senators.

Thurman, 33, was a first-round selection of the Montreal Expos in the 1994 draft. He currently serves as a Yankees scout in the Pacific Northwest.

I guess that Joe Pepitone and Felix Escalona already had plans for that day.